Anastasio Bustamante

Anastasio Bustamante (27 July 1780-6 February 1853) was President of Mexico from 1 January 1830 to 13 August 1832, succeeding Pedro Velez and preceding Melchor Muzquiz; from 19 April 1837 to 20 March 1839, succeeding Jose Justo Corro and preceding Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna; and from 19 July 1839 to 22 September 1841, succeeding Nicolas Bravo and preceding Francisco Javier Echeverria. Bustamante was twice overthrown and twice exiled, having murdered President Vicente Guerrero in an 1829 coup; however, he was a good military leader, defeating France in the 1838 Pastry War and putting down many uprisings against the Mexican government.

Biography
Anastasio Bustamante was born on 27 July 1780 in Jiquilpan, New Spain, and he entered the Spanish Army in 1808 under Felix Maria Calleja del Rey. He studied at a seminary in Guadalajara and served in the Spanish Army as a colonel during the Mexican War of Independence, although on 19 March 1821 he proclaimed Mexican independence from Spain and joined Agustin de Iturbide's insurrection. He overthrew President Vicente Guerrero in 1829 while serving as his Vice-President, having hime executed and taking power for himself in 1830. In 1832, an insurrection in Veracruz forced him from office, and he was forced to flee to France to escape assassination attempts from Guerrero's supporters. Bustamante would later return from France and become President of Mexico in 1837, and he fought against France in the Pasty War of 1838 while also fighting against Jose de Urrea's uprising. In 1841, he was overthrown in a coup by Francisco Javier Echeverria and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and went into exile in Europe until 1845, when he returned to Mexico to fight in the Mexican-American War. He never made it to California, and he instead put down rebellions in Aguascalientes and Guanajuato before dying in 1853 at the age of 72.